


ulterior motives

by disaster_queer



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst without a happy ending, Gen, Roman is suspicious of Janus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:35:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25924477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disaster_queer/pseuds/disaster_queer
Summary: Roman is having a terrible evening, and Janus pays him a visit. It doesn't turn out very well.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	ulterior motives

**Author's Note:**

> I swear this was supposed to be fluff...

Roman hated nights like this. He couldn’t sleep, couldn’t write or draw, couldn’t convince himself he was fine. All he could think about was Putting Others First.  _ Am I really… like Remus?  _ He wondered for the thousandth time. Evil. Hated. The villain. 

He’d sided with Janus once, and the others hated him for it. So Roman did what he did best. He acted.

He pretended to have a change of heart, and sided with Patton.  _ “Going to the wedding was the right choice.” _ But was it?

He didn’t know. Seemed there was a lot he didn’t know these days.

_ “I wouldn’t be able to tell who the evil twin is.” _ Roman shuddered, trying to block out the echoes of Janus’ voice. It had been almost a week, and everything had changed. When he came down to the mindscape commons for breakfast (which wasn’t often, considering there was a certain snake he wanted to avoid), his eyes were drawn to Janus. Laughing, smiling with the others. Fitting in more every day. Taking Roman’s place. 

A knock sounded at Roman’s door, startling him out of his thoughts. He heaved himself out of his desk chair, knocking the empty paper scarred with eraser marks into the trash can (that hadn’t been there before) on his way. 

He opened the door to reveal Janus (without his hat). The snake. The liar. He looked decidedly less villainy without the hat and gloves, but Roman shoved that thought out of his mind.

“What do  _ you _ want?” he said, his voice dripping with disdain. A flash of hurt crossed Janus’ face, only to be hidden behind his calm purpose that Roman had grown to despise.

“Why, Roman, I only wanted to see how you were doing. You didn’t leave your room at  _ all _ today, and we were all worried about you.”  _ We. _ Like he spoke for the Light Sides. 

“Get out, you reptilian rapscallion,” he snarled. Sounding for all the world like Remus. Janus seemed to have picked up on that, as his next words were a carefully aimed barb.

“Careful, Roman. You’re beginning to sound a bit like your brother. You know, the  _ evil _ one.” 

“What other brother do I have?” Roman sneered, knowing the comeback was weak, and not caring. “What do you  _ want _ ?” he repeated. Janus’ demeanor changed in an instant. He smiled encouragingly, every inch a picture of good intentions and amiability. 

“I’m baffled as to why you seem so hostile towards me. We’re not too different, after all. Deception requires creativity, as does self-care at times. And we’ve agreed in the past.”

“You’ve  _ manipulated _ me in the past, you mean!” Roman slammed the door, and slumped down against it. “ _ We’re not too different.” _ No.  _ No. _ Janus was evil. Roman was- or at least he used to be- the hero. 

Not that the other sides cared about that.

“Roman, please, I just want to have a conversation like we’re adults,” Janus shouted from the other side of the door. A muffled pounding came from the door.

Roman turned away to go back to his desk to see if he could draw something, maybe a sword, or have a new idea for a video, or write something. Perhaps an adventure in the Imagination. He wasn’t looking where he was going, and tumbled down a staircase he was certain hadn’t been there before.

“Jack the Fibber, I demand to know where that staircase came from!” he shouted, sprawled on the floor, holding his bruised elbow, ignoring the throbbing in his entire left arm. He glared at the missing three bottom stairs. 

“Oh dear, it looks like I’ll have to break down your door to rescue you. We’ll have to have a conversation.”

“You did that on purpose!” Roman accused. “And you tailored this staircase to trap me here too!”

“Was there ever any doubt?” Janus laughed.

“Come down here and fight me like a snake!”

“No, I don’t think so.” Janus suddenly became serious. “Are you going to finish talking to me, or should I leave you down there until someone misses you? I estimate it should take a few weeks before they realize you’re gone!” Roman cursed, and summoned his sword. 

“Fine, Bananaconda. Come on in.” The missing stairs materialized, and Roman hurried up them gratefully. Noting the conspicuous absence of his door, he healed his injury, and gripped his sword. “Now leave again.”

“Unfair,” Janus huffed. “First tell me what you and Virgil did with my hat and gloves.”

“Why are you so obsessed with those stupid things?” Roman countered. “It makes you look like a storybook villain. Slippery snake.”

“Isn’t that what you want to see me as?” Janus smiled, but there was no warmth to it. 

“Stop changing the subject!”

“I could tell you the same thing.” Roman gritted his teeth. 

“We gave it to the Dragon Witch.” Now it was Janus’ turn to look panicked.

“I’m sorry, you did _what?_ ” Janus demanded. “You are aware that she absolutely _loves_ Dark Sides, right?” 

“Stop being sarcastic, Jack the Fibber,” Roman smirked. “Good luck trying to get it back!”

“Roman, I swear, I’m going to-” 

“Oh, that reminds me, I wanted to try something. You can’t lie without your gloves and hat, correct?” Roman interrupted, enjoying the barely masked rage on Janus’ face.

“Correct,” the deceitful side admitted, forcing out the word. 

“So tell me-  _ was _ Thomas lying about me being his hero?” Janus jerked back in surprise and reluctance. “And you can’t just stay silent. That’s a lie of omission. I know that much, at least.” 

Janus struggled for a moment, then the answer finally escaped. “Yes.” As much as it hurt, Roman filed the information away, and prepared to ask his second question.

“What is your motivation for joining the Light Sides?” If Janus couldn’t lie, Roman would expose him as the manipulative liar he was, and prove that he couldn’t be trusted. Roman waited in anticipation, bursting with excitement, but nothing could have prepared him for the answer he got.

“I want what’s best for Thomas,” Janus assured him. “I really do. But angering you is a nice bonus.”

“What? You- you’re lying! You just want to push your own agenda!” Roman yelled, forgetting everything for the moment. Janus  _ couldn’t _ be telling the truth. He always wanted to do the egocentric thing, which, according to Patton, was most definitely  _ not _ the right thing to do.

“I told you, I can’t lie without my gloves,” Janus said exasperatedly. 

“You’re  _ Deceit _ . Lying and manipulating is what you do!”

“Roman!” Patton, Logan, and Virgil were standing at the door to his room, looking shocked at what he was yelling. They all started talking at once.

“Why is Deceit here?” Virgil demanded. He shrunk back as if to sink out, then remembered he couldn’t while in the mind palace. 

“Questioning Deceit while he is unable to utter falsehoods is an admirable tactic to retrieving the information you are in pursuit of, however, disparaging and screaming at him is an action I cannot condone.” Logan spoke quickly, as he always did.

“Why are you yelling at Janus? He’s one of us now!” Patton wasn’t mad. This was worse. Roman could handle mad. Instead he sounded… disappointed. Like Roman had let him down. Again.

The other two turned to stare at Patton. “Janus told you his  _ name _ ?” Virgil said slowly, disbelieving. 

“You two know his name?” Logan asked. “I was not aware he had told us, Patton.”

“Hold up,” Roman pointed at Virgil. “How do  _ you _ know his name?” The nervous side withdrew and backed up.

“Because I was a Dark Side,” Virgil muttered. “I’m out of here.” He turned and fled up the corridor towards his room.

The Light Sides turned their attention on Roman.

“Why, Roman?” Patton pleaded.

“I- I thought-” Roman stammered.  _ Stop stuttering! You know you’re right; now act like it! _ “I thought he was using us for his own agenda!”

“I trust Janus,” Patton defended. 

“I am certain we would know if Janus had ulterior motives,” Logan said. 

“Just- go,” Roman’s voice shook with shame and hurt. 

“Roman-” Patton started, but Roman wouldn’t let himself hear it.

“Please.” 

Logan took Patton’s hand, and stiffly led him out of the room, the other side leaning against his shoulder slightly.

Janus swished his cloak dramatically, and disappeared, hopefully to go confront the Dragon Witch for his hat and gloves. 

Roman restored his room with a wave of his hand, erasing all signs of Janus’ visit, and collapsed against the side of his canopy bed.

_ I’m not the hero _ , he thought, recalling the way Patton had looked at him. He swallowed down a lump in his throat, tears beginning to prick at the corners of his eyes. Remus would be along any minute to replace him. Janus would corrupt Thomas’ morality, turning him into a deceptive liar. No one would trust him again. Logan and Patton would hate him. Maybe Virgil would too.

It was poetic irony, he supposed, that his former nemesis would become his closest ally in the coming days. 


End file.
